Message from Tim

As many of you know, we just recently had a DTN conference in New Jersey. This year’s theme was “Putting No Obstacles before the Gospel.” It was a powerful time, and many of us were deeply impacted by the messages that were presented—so impacted, in fact, that shortly after the conference, we began a very serious discussion about the need for leaders and teachers to be proactive in the pursuit of sexual purity. This discussion eventually led to the formation of some mutually-agreed upon protective and disciplinary measures, which are represented in the document below. As you read the document, you will come across the terms “pattern of pornography” and “isolated event of pornography.” This language is drawn from a podcast done by John Piper in response to the question, “Does porn use disqualify a pastor?”. Most of us, sadly, could point to examples of the gospel falling into disrepute because of a moral failure on the part of a leader. None of us are exempt from the temptations of this age (see 1 Cor 10:13). Our prayer is that the Lord, by His mercy and power, would use these measures as a safeguard to the preserve integrity of the gospel as we seek to steward it faithfully in context to DTN.

Also, as mentioned in the video above, we have decided to make the following year a “year of consecration” for DTN. In January, we will be doing a 21-day fast (Jan 9-30). We invite you to join us in this fast if you feel so led by the Holy Spirit. Also, we will not be posting any new resources on the DTN website over the next year, nor will we have a conference in 2017, so that we can 1) devote more time to seeking the Lord and letting him take us to a deeper place of consecration; 2) seek the Lord concerning the future of DTN and how he wants us to move forward; and 3) give more focused attention to developing the new DTN website and app, as the Lord provides the resources for that.

We would deeply appreciate your prayers as Lord brings DTN to your mind over the next year. The hour is urgent, and our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. Many blessings to you, dear saints.